Old Kai
This article is part of Project Genesis. |image = Old_Kai_text.svg|250px |imagecaption = The word šurhóas written in Old Kai on an early Jähimajist text, dated circa Star of the Kaijin People |region = Riden Peninsula (Primarily), Assai |iso3 = OK |fam1 = Han-Kaijin |fam2 = Kai |fam3 = Eastern Kai |fam4 = Riddish |script = Kai, Assai, Primative Kaijin }} Old Kai ' ('OK, Ká-eghedži, Modern Kai: Éjajikádim, Assai: Kai-ekí) is the earliest stage of the modern Kai Language as well as the immediate ancestor of the closely related Assai Language, conventionally believed to have been spoken between and . As a Kai-Meridian Language of the Eastern Kai Family, Old Kai was the official language of the Alawazi Empire in Eastern Ridan as well as its successor states. Old Kai was spoken throughout much of the Riden Peninsula as well as western Greater Assai, where it later developed into the independent Assai Language. Religious Jähimajist texts dated from circa account for the majority of modern surviving Old Kai texts, with their near-perfect condition allowing linguists to have significantly reconstructed Old Kai. Today, much of its phonology, syntax, and morphology is well understood and documented, with many of its grammatical features (such as VSO syntactic structure, complex noun declension system, and prominent use of the 3rd person) surviving into Old Kai’s descendant languages of Kai and Assai. As an Eastern Kai language, Old Kai is believed to be a descendant of Proto-Kai spoken in Southern Zhou. The emigration of the Kaijin people from their Zhou homelands after the Zhou Kaijin genocide led to the movement of Proto-Eastern-Kai into the Riden Peninsula, where it was spoken for several centuries as the dominant language of the region, replacing the Old Riddish Languages of Dumar and Tiriz. Old Kai would later develop in the Alawazi Empire of Eastern Riden, which itself developed into Middle Kai following the invasion of the Zhou in . The invasion of Greater Assai by the Kaijin in resulted in the spreading of Old Kai to Assai, where it later developed into the independent Assai Language after the collapse of the Alawazi Empire and its consequential isolation from Middle Kai. Old Kai is very different from Modern Kai, being difficult for Modern Kai speakers to understand without study. Conversely, the Assai Language shares several grammatical similarities with Old Kai which allow speakers of Assai to read Old Kai without significant difficulties. Old Kai was written using Old Kai Script, which was later replaced by the use of the simplified Kai Script. Old Kai Script continued to be used in Classical Kai, a derivative literary form of Old Kai which continued to be used well into the Middle Ages. Demographics and History 'Geographical Distribution' 'History' Phonology 'Vowels' Note that for all the above sounds except for /ai/ a long form may be indicated by adding an umlaut (ő in the case of ó) to indicate the vowel is pronounced long. For example, 'ö' = /o:/, 'ä' = /a:/, etc. Proto-Kai utilises vowel harmony, wherein every word will utilise vowels of the same group. These groups are as follows, with all vowels therein including their respective long forms (with the exception of the diphthong /ai/) *'Front '/i y e ø ai/, where /u/ will change to /y/, /o/ to /ø/, and /a/ to /e/. *'Back '/u o a ai/, where /y/ will change to /u/, /ø/ to /o/, and /e i/ to á/. *'Rounded '/y ø u o/, where /i/ will change to /y/, /e/ to / ø/, /a/ to /o/, and /ai/ to /u/ *'Unrounded '/e i a ai/, where /y/ will change to /i/, /ø/ to /e/, /o/ to /a/, and /u/ to /o/ For example, the word "ïndja" (‘to drink’) consists of a front vowel system root with the infinitive ''-ja suffix. Conjugated into the 3rd person singular formal, the affix ''-jakhe ''would normally be added. The vowel /a/ will harmonise with the front vowel root to an /e/, resulting in the word "ïndjekhe" (harmonised) instead of "ïndjakhe". 'Consonants' Orthographic representation of each character is indicated in brackets. 'Phonotactics' Proto-Kai follows a ©V©© phonotactic system, wherein: */ts m/ cannot form the coda. Morphology 'Noun Declension' Old Kai has three genders, which are as follows: *Animate *Feminine *Neuter Similarly, Old Kai has seven cases (see below). Whilst there are no definite or gender-declining indefinite articles, case declension varies according to the gender of a word. Thus, The indefinite article ''‘ë’ may be used before a noun followed by a hyphen. For example, ‘He went to the mountain’ ''would be ''‘ferješghó eliz itanerhe rhykhőjo’ ''(go+conj.+modal he mountain+locative past modal verb), whilst ‘He went to a mountain’ would be ''‘ferješghó eliz ë-itanerhe rhykhőjo’. A noun phrase in Old Kai may use the genitive or the affix ‘-be’ ''depending on the inalienable/alienable nature of the compound noun. For example, ''‘Khórhÿtešikiž Ká-eghedži’ ''means ‘''the language of the Old Kai’, an example of alienable possession (ie, the language is something which can be lost). Conversely, ‘Khórhÿtešikibe Ká-eghedži’ ''means ''‘the Old Kai language’ ''utilising inalienable possession, and is thus something which cannot be lost. 'Adjectives' Adjectives are not declined according to gender and/or case in Old Kai. However, adjectives can be turned into nouns through the addition of the suffix ''–(e)šïr. ''For example, ''‘eghedži’ ''(old) can become ''‘eghedžišïr’ ''(old age). Similarly, nouns can also be converted into adjectives by the use of the suffix ''-tse. For example, ‘ádže’ ''(water) becomes ''‘ádžetse’ ''(aqueous, watery). Adverbs are also produced from adjectives through the addition of the suffix ''-džek. For example, ‘reši’ ''(fast) becomes ''‘rešidžek’ ''(quickly, rapidly). Adjectives in Old Kai are always added after the main noun phrase. Similarly, adverbs are always added after the main verb phrase. Thus, ''‘an old man quickly drank the aqueous water’ ''would be ''‘ïndješghó rešidžek ë-ero-eghedži ádžeš-ádžetse rhykhőjo’ ''(drinks quickly a man old water aqueous verb). Note that adjectives are usually connected to their noun via a hyphen, although this is purely a literary custom. 'Verb Conjugation' Verbs in Old Assai conjugate according to number and person. Tenses are indicated through the use of auxiliary verbs. Mood is indicated in the following way: *'Imperative: the omission of any suffixes indicates the imperative mood in Old Kai. For example, ‘''drink!’'', in the context of a group of known people, would be ‘''šáïnd!’''. The same word in the context of a single male person would be ‘ïnd!’. *'''Interrogative: the use of the participle ‘''tše’ before the verb indicates the interrogative mood. No other changes occur. Thus, ''‘she is drinking’ ''is ''‘ïndjo khež’, whilst ‘is she drinking?’ ''would be ''‘tše ïndjo khež?’ *'Conditional:' the infix –(i)mï- ''is added after the root of the verb. For example, ''‘he drinks’ ''is ''‘ïndješ eliz’, ‘he might/could drink’ ''is ''‘ïndimïješ eliz’. Šátšikhis te ''(they known speak) would become ''šátšikhimïs te (they might/could speak) 'Tense, Negation, and Modal Verbs' Tenses are indicated by the use of modal verbs, which are illustrated below: All these modal forms may be structured in one of two ways, by using the conjugated modal verb with an infinitive at the sentence’s end, or by using the conjugated verb with a modal marker (''-ghó'') and the modal infinitive at the sentence’s end. All of the above verbs are irregular. Their conjugations are as follows: Negation is expressed in Old Kai by using the infix ''-ne- immediately following the stem. For example, ‘''She is drinking’ ''is ‘''ere khežïndja’ ''or ''‘ïndjaghó khež berja’, whereas ‘She is not drinking’ ''is ''‘erene khež ïndja’ ''or ''‘ïndjaneghó khež berja’. Old Kai frequently utilises modal verbs to denote subtle changes in meaning. See section on syntax for the way in which these modal verbs are used. 'Evidential Markers' Whether or not an event is known ''to have occurred by the speaker can be described by using the narrative infix ''-yt- ''(that is, if the speaker witnessed the event occur) or through the use of the rumour infix ''-fetä- ''(that is, if the speaker did not witness the events occur). If the speaker is unsure of the truth of what was said, the infix ''-zeka-'' is used. Furthermore, whether or not an event was seen or heard by the speaker can be illustrated using the infix ''-inó- ''or ''-ikha- ''respectively. Thus, *''tšikhinejughe khež Káš-eghedži rhykhőjo means 'she was seen to have been speaking Old Kai'. *''tšikhikhajughe khež Káš-eghedži rhykhőjo'' means 'she was heard to have been speaking Old Kai'. *''tšikhitjughe khež Káš-eghedži rhykhőjo'' means '(I, the speaker, witnessed that) she was speaking Old Kai' *''tšikhfetäjughe khež Káš-eghedži rhykhőjo'' means '(I did not witness this, but believe that) she was speaking Old Kai'. *''tšikhizetajughe khež Káš-eghedži rhykhőjo'' means '(I'm not sure about this, but believe that) she was speaking Old Kai'. Note that when an inpossible phonetic clustering from affixes would have occured, the vowel 'i' has been used before the affix. Additionally, affixes have been harmonised. Syntax Old Kai is a language with a sentence structure. The complex case system of noun declension in Old Kai permits for a particularly free sentence ordering, although the placement of the verb in the sentence is particularly strict. This freedom of syntax, as well as the capability of words to accredit complex meanings from affixes, is partially why the Classical Kai derrivative of Old Kai was used extensively for literature. Verb placement in Old Assai is particularly important, with the main verb or modal verb indicative of tense always being used first, followed by any verb phrase modifiers (ie, adverbs). Modal verbs or verbs agreeing with an initial modal verb must always be used at the end of a sentence, the exception chiefly being in poetry. Between the two verbs, however, the order of subject and object is not particularly important. Subject occuring before object is, however, more typical of colloquial speech. 'Forming Questions' Questions are formed in Old Assai through the use of the participle tše before the initial verb. For example, Takür drinks water would be ïndješ Takür ádžeš (literally drinks Takür water+acc.), whilst Does Takür drink water? would be tše ïndješ Takür ádžeš?. 'Subordinate Clauses' Subordinate clauses usually have the main verb sent to the end of the sentence with the introduction of a subordinate conjunction. For example, 'His father, who is old, drinks water' would become ïndješ rykhóbe eliz, eghedži eja, ádžeš (literally: drinks father of he, old is, water+acc.). Example Texts 'The Lord's Prayer' , , . , , . , , , , , . Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On Earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trepass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. 'Excerpt from ''Songs of Jäh''' , , The suns redden in the west, I fear of the night, O Great Jä, protect me, Let your Light torment the nightness, Untill the suns redden in the east. See Also *Project Genesis *Assai *Kaishuri *Kai Language *Assai Language *Kaijin People Category:Project Genesis Category:Languages Category:Javants Category:Assai Category:Kaishuri Category:Kaijin People Category:Kaijin